The landscape scale approach to urban nature conservation : implementation, critical appraisal of policy interactions and new opportunities for urban biodiversity enhancement

Within towns and cities there are fragmented natural landscape elements that contain important biodiversity and provide other ecosystem services. These natural landscape elements are increasingly being divided into smaller, more fragmented spaces by anthropologically driven landscape changes. In order to safeguard biodiversity and other ecosystem services, these natural elements must be protected and enhanced sustainably. Previous conservation strategies have been unable to reverse the trend of decreasing biodiversity in the UK. Landscape scale conservation could provide a more integrated approach to conservation that is compatible with fragmented natural landscapes in urban regions. This thesis contains a critical discussion on the current implementation and future potential of landscape scale conservation strategies in and around the Merseyside conurbation, the Manchester conurbation and the Mersey Valley. Current landscape composition and recent landscape changes are explored through the analysis of land cover maps and literature. The content, interactions and articulations of international, national, regional and local policies are examined with the aid of the qualitative data analysis software NVivo® 7. The innovative creation of opportunity maps for biodiversity enhancement using a cost-distance analysis and focal statistics approach is then explored. Wildlife experts provided ecological data and feedback to support this process. Data suggest that recent landscape changes in the study region were due to urbanisation, natural succession, poor habitat management and ecological restoration. Analysis of nature conservation legislation and policy indicated that some elements of landscape scale conservation are more frequently referred to in regional and local policies rather than national and international policies. There is incomplete translation of nature conservation themes from higher to lower level legislation. Opportunity mapping successfully identified areas where conservation efforts could be focused, particularly for moderately mobile species. Landscape scale nature conservation efforts explored in this thesis provide a viable way of enhancing biodiversity within urban areas.